Mikey Way
Michael James Way (born September 10, 1980) is the bass guitarist of the American rock band My Chemical Romance, and is the younger brother of the band's lead vocalist and frontman Gerard Way. He is also related Joe Rogan, host of the NBC game/stunt show Fear Factor and former cast member of the sitcom News Radio in that Joe is Way's mother's cousin's son. Way has also been a touring member of the American rock band From First to Last, and has written for DC Comics. Early Life Mikey Way was born in Newark, New Jersey to Donna Lee (née Rush) and Donald Way. He is half Italian from his mother's side and half Scottish from his father's side. He grew up in Belleville, New Jersey with his brother and parents. Way attended Belleville High School until he graduated in 1998.Haydn, Reinhardt (2008). My Chemical Romance: This Band Will Save Your Life. London: Plexus Publishing Limited Growing up, Way and his brother were influenced by such bands as Iron Maiden, The Misfits, Pulp, Blur, and Morrissey and The Smiths. The first concert Way attended was The Smashing Pumpkins at Madison Square Garden, but his desire to play music was inspired by a particular live record, Iron Maiden's Live After Death.Stenning, Paul (2007). My Chemical Romance: Something Incredible This Way Comes. Shropshire: Independent Music Press Career My Chemical Romance At the time guitarist Ray Toro joined Gerard and drummer Matt Pelissier in the group, the band was without both a name and a bassist. Encouraged by Eyeball Records founder Alex Saavedra, Way dropped out of college in order to learn bass guitar and join his brother. His only previous musical experience had been an unsuccessful audition to join Eyeball's Pencey Prep, future MCR guitarist Frank Iero's band.Haydn, Reinhardt (2008). My Chemical Romance: This Band Will Save Your Life. London: Plexus Publishing Limited Despite his lack of experience and musical training, Way became important in the band's early development, not least of which was coming up with a name for the band. He had taken up a job stacking shelves at a branch of Barnes & Noble, and noticed Irvine Welsh's novel Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance lying on the ground. The words 'Chemical Romance' caught his eye, and he added 'My' to give the name a "personal touch".Bryant, Tom. "My Chemical Romance Interview". Kerrang!. http://www.tom-bryant.com/my-chemical-romance-kerrang--tom-bryant.html. Over the first years My Chemical Romance played, Way drank alcohol heavily to mask his extreme stage fright. During the writing and recording of The Black Parade at the allegedly haunted Paramour Mansion, Way suffered severely as a result of depression, alcoholism, and the atmosphere at the Mansion. As he revealed in an interview with Kerrang!: "that house had just excavated everything in my head and made everything a million times worse... I was really close suicide. I know that I was going to leave the band or maybe just leave planet Earth altogether". He eventually left Paramour to get psychological help, and stayed with close friend and band lawyer Stacy Fass, who he said "saved my life".Bryant, Tom. "The Darkness that Drives Mikey Way". Kerrang!. http://www.theblackparade.net/t2695/. During 2005, Way was a touring member of American rock band From First To Last for the "Christmassacre" tour, due to the fact that bassist Jon Weisberg had left the band."Christmassacre Tour 2005". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MskxiZnXUIE. Way met his wife-to-be, bassist and fellow touring member Alicia Simmons, on this tour.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA79oa2xCq8 On April 19, 2007, Gerard announced via the band's official website that from May 5, Mikey Way would be temporarily replaced as bassist by guitar technician Matt Cortez to allow him to take a break with his newlywed wife. Way returned to the lineup later in the year.Haydn, Reinhardt (2008). My Chemical Romance: This Band Will Save Your Life. London: Plexus Publishing Limited In a 2010 interview with American Music Press, Way was asked about the "number one thing Chemical Romance has done for him": "It’s changed me a great deal, it’s made me not be such a defeatist about things, to be more confident in myself, it taught me to constantly create, and constantly evolve. It gave me the power to be the best version of me, any day. I think for that I am eternally grateful".Tehran, Nattale. "My Chemical Romance - Interview With Mikey Way". AMP Magazine. http://www.ampmagazine.com/7817/my-chemical-romance-interview-with-mikey-way/. My Chemical Romance has released four studio albums, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (2002), Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004), The Black Parade (2006), and Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (2010), with a fifth album currently in the works."My Chemical Romance: 'Our new album won't just be a collection of songs'". NME. http://www.nme.com/news/my-chemical-romance/61780. Their discography also consists of two live albums, six extended plays, 19 singles, four video albums, 15 music videos, one demo, and 11 original appearances on other albums. Writing In 2008, during My Chemical Romance's break after touring The Black Parade, Way penned an eight-page story that appeared in DC Comics' special "Halloween '08" book, and featured art by Mateus Santoluoco. Based on Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", his story starred Batman and Scarecrow in a role reversal as the Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane respectively.Montgomery, James. "My Chemical Romance's Mikey Way Pens Batman Comic While Band Is 'Taking A Long Break'". MTV. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1597578/my-chemical-romances-mikey-way-pens-batman-comic.jhtml. On August 25, 2011, Way revealed in an interview with AbsolutePunk that he and his brother are working on "something for DC Comics".DiVincenzo, Alex. "My Chemical Romance". AbsolutePunk. http://absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?p=93894782. Interests Way's favorite band is Anthrax, and can often be seen wearing his signature Anthrax shirt. Mikey is a recovering iPod junkie and an iPod battery hoarder. His favorite food is sushi (claims that he could eat his body weight in it), and he loves Schlock horror films. He has a pet cat named Bunny Marie Way, who even has his own myspace. On the other hand, Way hates small spaces, large and open spaces, large bodies of water, and shopping for groceries. Personal Life Way's trademark was his glasses, but all that changed in May of 2006. To correct his near-sightedness, Way got Lasik eye surgery; he no longer wears glasses. As quoted from Way's myspace page: "At the young age of 9 years, Michael James Way was struck with the affliction known as nearsightedness. Unable to see such things as the chalkboard, the movie screen (or anything more than 5 feet away) the lad was forced to get corrective lenses. Michael and his glasses spent many fruitful years together. They saw each other through the good times, as well as the bad. In May of 2006 this friendship came to a crashing halt. Michael's glasses met their end tragically, by way of Lasik eye surgery. The glasses leave behind two loving brothers, Ray Ban, Paul Frank, and their father Chanel. Viewing times and dates will be announced shortly." On March 7, 2007, after My Chemical Romance's gig in Las Vegas, Way married guitar tech and merchandise seller Alicia Simmons, 23, backstage.Haydn, Reinhardt (2008). My Chemical Romance: This Band Will Save Your Life. London: Plexus Publishing Limited They have matching tattoos on their wrists, consisting of a heart-shaped jar with flames emitting from it; across the jar read "FOREVER". He currently lives with his wife in Los Angeles. On January 26th 2013, it became known over the internet, and the popular blogging site, Tumblr, that Way had an affair on his wife with 19 year old, teen mom, model, Sarah Cantergiani. Evidence to support this included various tweets from in-law Lindsey "LynZ" Way which she later deleted, Alicia Way tweeting that she was "devastated" and then making her twitter private, and screen caps of certain posts on tumblr. There were rumors circulating beforehand that Mikey and Alicia had had, or had been contemplating a divorce or a separation long before this reached Tumblr, and so it is unclear whether "affair" is an accurate term to describe the scandal; however, it is clear by Lindsey and Alicia's tweets that some sort of shock and betrayal had occured. Quotes *"There's less violence in the world when people are using Hula-Hoops." *"I'm the spiritual advisor of the band." *"This band is metal in that we have a lot of metal in our instruments, and there's quite a lot of metal on my belt buckle as well." *(On the "Ghost Of You" music video) "Yeah, I'm kind of upset that I'm going to die tomorrow." *"We always had a vision but we weren't sure if it would translate or just come off as pretentious." *(On starting the band) "We all have very humble backgrounds and very geeky interests." *"I could eat my body weight in sushi." *"Ashlee Simpson told me she had our CD." *"Yeah, I had a headache, really bad. I was in a gas station and there was a pot of coffee and I looked at it for about a minute and then my brother (motions at Gerard) got a coffee and he taunted me." *"We're really greedy about the electricity in our iPods. We hoard it. We're like, 'Yo, I'm only on half a fuck battery and I have a plane ride!' '" *"I like Popsicles." References Category:Stub Category:Band Members